


The Legitimacy of Heroism

by anythingbutplatonic



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 5x07, Admiration, Always, Episode Related, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Missing Scene Fic, Oliver is Felicity's hero, Vigilante, episode reaction fic, even if they're broken up, fight me about it, lingering feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 03:19:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9697370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anythingbutplatonic/pseuds/anythingbutplatonic
Summary: She watched him, standing up to Vigilante, tall and proud, not giving anything away as he sized up the other vigilante. He kind of reminded her of a big cat observing its prey.Episode reaction/missing scene fic for 5x07 "Vigilante".





	

Oliver was wrong.

Granted, that statement could cover any number of things, as Oliver had been wrong many times in the past, but this time? Felicity was thinking of one particular thing.

That he wasn’t a legitimate hero.

She had seen him grow, over the past four years, from some crazy in a hood who offered her a bullet-ridden laptop to a man with principles and beliefs and a passion for doing what was right. He believed in justice and equality, and in punishing those who took advantage of the most vulnerable in society. 

In her eyes, he was one of the most heroic people she had ever known. And she knew that as truthfully as she knew that it wasn’t something she should be thinking anymore now that they were... _well_. 

_Done_.

Felicity admired Oliver for his drive, his conviction, and the way he cared about _people_ , the genuine citizens who were exploited by the crooked few that he detested so thoroughly. She knew just how good of a person he could be - how good of a person he _was_. 

It was what she loved - _had_  loved - about him. 

Watching him on the surveillance cameras, her skin hot and sweaty in the black turtleneck and trousers she wore, her hair a mess from the rubber skull mask, she felt something niggling in her stomach that she couldn’t quite describe. 

She watched him, standing up to Vigilante, tall and proud, not giving anything away as he sized up the other vigilante. He kind of reminded her of a big cat observing its prey. All that was missing was a tail and a thick mane of hair, but instead he had a hood and a mask and a bow that he gripped tightly at his side, not wavering, buying his time. 

It was the kind of image that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, a smile coming to her lipstick-smudged lips even as her hands shook and a warning sounded in the back of her head - _Don’t leave him alone with that guy!_  - making her want to shriek into her comms for him to _get out, to come back, to abort the mission._

Even with reminders of Havenrock playing behind her eyelids every night, or the quiet whispers of the voices of those she’d killed resounding in her head when things were too quiet and lonely, Oliver was still able to create a kind of presence that reassured her, just a little. Seeing him made her feel better and stop her blood from rushing too fast around her body. 

Seeing him like that, it made her proud. Proud to know him, and proud _of_  him, both as her friend and as the man she.... _had_....once loved. Yes. _Had_.

Dammit, why was he still affecting her like this?

Of course, she knew the answer. She knew it even though she tried to ignore it, to deny it, to pretend like everything was just as it always had been. That she’d never loved him. That they’d never been months from getting _married_.

 He was a hero. He was _her_  hero, and had been long before anything had happened between them. 

Her Oliver. Her hero.

Whether he believed her or not. 


End file.
